Boeing B-17G Fortress (Flying Fortress)
U.S. Heavy Bomber

One of the Ghost Squadron's B-17Gs, Sentimental Journey.

Image source: The Confederate Air Force Ghost Squadron CD-ROM
produced by Corel. Photos by Bill Crump.

The Boeing B-17
Fortress, also known in the press and elsewhere as the Flying Fortress, formed the
spearhead of the American bombing offensive in Europe, serving from the beginning to the
end, with over 12,677 Fortresses being delivered to the USAAF between July 1940 and August
1945.

Although later heavy bombers could carry
greater bomb loads, the B-17 earned the universal affection of its crews by its good
flight characteristics, excellent high-altitude capability and ability to absorb an
amazing amount of battle damage and keep on flying.

The first Fortresses to see combat were B-17C
models transferred to Britain under Lend-Lease in the spring of 1941 and known by them as
Fortress Is. The U.S. Army Air Corp had 35 B-17C and Ds stationed in the Philippines when
the Japanese attacked on 8 December, 1941, plus a flight was attacked on arrival from
California at Pearl Harbor.

In April 1942, a new version, the B-17F was
introduced on the production lines, incorporating over four hundred design changes and
improvements to improve combat efficiency, and this model carried the early brunt of the
bombing campaign in Europe.

Despite its nickname of Flying Fortress, the
B-17 suffered heavily when flown deep into German-occupied Europe without long-range
fighter escort, the range of the fighters in 1942 and early 1943 being too short for such
escort. German fighters found that head-on attacks against the groups of Fortresses were
particularly effective, as the hand-held machine guns in the nose of the B-17 were not
very effective.

The final, definitive version of the B-17 in
World War II was the B-17G, as seen here in the CAF hangar. Introduced into production in
July 1943, the G-model featured a power-operated "chin" turret mounting two .50
caliber machine guns below the nose. In addition, two "cheek" guns added to the
forward firepower of the new Fortress model and proved effective in blunting the head-on
attacks.

By the end of the war, B-17s had dropped over
640,000 tons of bombs on European targets and destroyed twenty-three enemy aircraft per
thousand sorties, by official records. No other U.S. bomber better represents the concept
of American offensive airpower in the Second World War than the Boeing B-17 Fortress.